Methods and Practice of Elizabethan Swordplay

But accept it for what it is - a basic explanation of Di Grassi, Saviolo, and Silver, not an advancement of the art. I came to Turner and Soper after many years of trying to work out these moves from the original manuals, and found a frustrating blend of careful analysis of the painfully obvious, further confusion of the already muddled, and utter silence on all my real questions. Serious researchers will be disappointed.

For a first place to begin, it's probably easier and quicker than trying to read the originals. A choreographer interested in pre-digested knowledge will find this book an excellent source.


Not as good as the originals   May 14, 1999
 6 out of 10 found this review helpful

Now that the original manuals of DiGrassi and Saviolo are widely available on the Web, and Silver's Brief Instructions is likewise available, this work's shortcomings in presenting the actual stylings of Elizabethen swordplay are rather painfully evident. Most glaring is the way that "Methods and Practice" got Silver completely wrong, only referring to his "Paradoxes" and not once citing the in-depth, competent, incisive combat instruction available in Silver's "Brief Instructions on my Paradoxes of Defence".


Worth reading at least twice if you choreograph fights...   May 4, 1999
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Detailed and scholarly work about which the theorists can argue. Worth reading at least twice if you choreograph fights regularly for someone who is interested in "realistic" portrayal. From The Ring of Steel: www.deathstar.org/groups/ros/library.html


An excellent book describing three masters...   May 4, 1999
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

An excellent book describing three masters: Giacomo DiGrassi, Vincentio Saviolo; and George Silver. Showing both their methods and techniques as well as the differences between them. From Sovereign Rose, Companie of Lawe: home.earthlink.net/~sirgydion/books.html


"makes a difference in performance"   May 4, 1999
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Featuring period drawings and prints of swordplay, this book examines and compares, the only three existing Elizabethan fencing manuals written in English before 1600: Giacomo Di Grassi's His True Arte of Defense (1594), Vincentio Saviolo's His Practice in Two Bookes (1595), and George Silver's Paradoxes of Defence and Bref Instructions Upon my Paradoxes of Defence (1599). More than a technical manual on swordplay, this book explores the influence of a new form of violence introduced into Elizabethan culture by the invention of the rapier. The authors examine the rapier's influence on the various social classes, the clash between the traditional English fencing masters and those embracing the new style, the growing concern with unregulated dueling, and the frequent references to rapier play in the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. As producer Joseph Papp notes in his Foreword, this is a book that "makes a difference in performance"